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Supreme Court Censures Tourison for Drunk Driving Incident

Courts | Tue, 06/02/2009 - 11:30 am | Read 1024 | Commented 4 | Emailed 0
Tags: cape may, judges, judicial conduct, Lower Township, Middle Township, North Cape May, Stone Harbor, Supreme Court

By Joe Hart

NORTH CAPE MAY — Peter M. Tourison, a former municipal court judge in Stone Harbor, Cape May and Middle Township, was censured June 2 by the state Supreme Court for violating judicial rules related to his drunk driving arrest on March 28 last year.

The incident occurred on March 27 when Tourison was observed driving his BMW in an erratic fashion before striking another vehicle in the North Cape May Wawa parking lot.

Tourison failed a field sobriety test and was taken to Lower Township Police Department.

While being processed, Tourison repeatedly applied lip balm and held a penny in his mouth in an effort to fool a blood alcohol content (BAC) test, according to the complaint. His test revealed a BAC of .08, the legal limit.

Tourison pled guilty to DWI charges on June 25, 2008.

Tourison lost his driver’s license for 90 days and was charged over $700 in fines and surcharges.

On Oct. 27 last year, a formal complaint was filed in this matter by the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct.

The committee said Tourison failed to hold high standards of conduct and comply with the law. It also found that his actions demeaned his office.

Tourison did not deny the allegations against him.

Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com


Print | Email Updated 35 weeks 6 days ago

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Comments (4)

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Thu, 06/11/2009 - 9:06am - Posted by: bandit

great....lets make it convenient for him and schedule drunk driving cases a special day when a more responsible judge is on duty...what a bunch of crap....a stupid bench warmer who luckily didnt kill anybody (yet).

random story (i got many)....A few years ago I had to do environmental work at a county court house bldg...the judge, who had the only parking space that touched the bldg. had to park 15 feet further away...as he entered the building (after I had been at work several hours already)....alls he said was "get this done today".....what a fat bloated dope!!! i never prayed for a leaky oil tank b4 that (no comment on status of tank).

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Wed, 06/03/2009 - 4:22pm - Posted by: Towncrier

tiger1 whether you know the man or not isn’t relevant. What is relevant is that he demeaned his office and the trust of the people. He seems to have a drinking problem for which he of all people should know what nasty things can happen when you drive and drink. What got him censured was how he tried to beat the rap by deceiving the tests for how drunk he was. He, you and others defending how wonderful he is, are the reasons our standards have been lowered for bad behavior. If this man had injured someone in your family would you still believe he was an outstanding citizen? You and others like the Mayor in Stone Harbor that would forgive him, and those that would still allow him on the bench are misguided, and the Supreme Court of New Jersey has called it right.

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Wed, 06/03/2009 - 2:53pm - Posted by: tiger1

YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T KNOW THE MAN WHITESPIDER. SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAVE YOUR OWN DEMONS TO DEAL WITH.................

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Wed, 06/03/2009 - 7:36am - Posted by: whitespider

This man is a lawyer and a judge. He is also an alcoholic and a chain smoking, nasty individual as those of us who have had the poor luck to be in his office for advice have experienced. He is not fit or polite enough to operate a law office nor is he fit to effectively rule clearheadedly from the bench. Let him be stripped of his judgeship.





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